Editing Lyngdal (section)

==General information==
[[File:Satellittbilde av Lyngdal.jpg|thumb|left|Satellite view of Lyngdal]]
[[File:Fleseland.jpg|thumb|left|View of Fleseland on the Rosfjorden]]
The parish of ''Aa'' was established as the municipality of Lyngdal on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). On 1 January 1909, the municipality was split into three: [[Austad (municipality)|Austad]] in the south (population: 1,263), [[Kvås (municipality)|Kvås]] in the north (population: 736) and Lyngdal in the central area (population: 2,698). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, the municipalities of Austad (population: 608), Kvås (population: 493), Lyngdal (population: 2,916) as well as the Gitlevåg area (population: 103) in [[Spangereid]] municipality, west of [[Lenesfjorden]], were all merged to form one large municipality of Lyngdal. On 1 January 1971, the Ytre Skarstein and Indre Skarstein areas of Lyngdal (population: 21) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of [[Farsund]]. On 1 January 2001, the municipality of Lyngdal declared that the municipal centre of [[Alleen]] would be a [[List of towns and cities in Norway|town]] called ''[[Lyngdal (town)|Lyngdal]]''.<ref name="Dag">{{Cite book |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |year=1999 |isbn=9788253746845 |language=no}}</ref>

On 1 January 2020, the neighboring municipality of [[Audnedal]] was merged into Lyngdal municipality.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nye Lyngdal kommune Informasjonsbrosjyre |url=https://www.lyngdal.kommune.no/globalassets/bilder-og-dokumenter/kommunereformen/nye-lyngdal-kommune/informasjonsbrosjyrer/infobrosjyre-nye-lyngdal-1-2017.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055508/https://www.lyngdal.kommune.no/globalassets/bilder-og-dokumenter/kommunereformen/nye-lyngdal-kommune/informasjonsbrosjyrer/infobrosjyre-nye-lyngdal-1-2017.pdf |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=2017-11-05 |publisher=Lyngdal kommune |language=no}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality is named after the Lyngdalen valley ({{langx|non|Lygnudalr}}) since it is the valley in which the municipality is located. The first element is the [[genitive case]] of the river name ''[[Lygna]]''. This name comes from the word {{wikt-lang|non|logn}} which means "quietness" or "calm". The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|dalr}} which means "[[valley]]" or "dale". Prior to 1908, the [[parish]] (but not the municipality) of Lyngdal was called ''Aa'', named after the vicarage. The name of the vicarage was first mentioned in 1312 as "a Am", the dative plural of ''á'' which means "(small) river". The farm lies between two rivers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mt1LAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Lister og Mandals amt |date=1912 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=9 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=229–230 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
[[File:Lyngdal gamle våpen.svg|thumb|left|100px|Arms from 1987 to 2019]]
[[File:Lyngdal komm.svg|thumb|left|100px|Current arms since 2020]]
The original [[coat of arms]] was granted on 27 March 1987 and in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was enlarged. The official [[blazon]] was "[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]] a cow [[statant]] [[argent]]" ({{langx|no|I grønt en stående sølv ku}}). This means the arms had a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] was a [[cow]] that was facing to the left. The cow had a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[argent]] which meant it was commonly colored white, but if it was made out of metal, then silver was used. The cow was chosen since the local breed of cows ({{lang|no|lyngdalsku}}) has been very well known across Norway since the 19th century. The yearly cattle fair traders from all over [[Southern Norway]] and [[Western Norway]] visit the municipality to get cows. The arms were designed by Torgeir Schjølberg.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Lyngdal |access-date=2023-01-17 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lyngdal, Vest-Agder (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-10-32.html |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1987-03-27 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1987-03-27-219?q=flagg |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

The current [[coat of arms]] was approved for use starting on 1 January 2020. The arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a tree on top of three wavy lines. The tree and wavy lines have a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[argent]] which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The tree symbolizes growth. It has nine leaves symbolizing the nine main population centres within Lyngdal. The wavy lines represent waves and meadows. There are three white lines to represent the three large rivers in the municipality: [[Lygna]], [[Audna]], and [[Mandalselva]]. The two green wavy lines (between the white wavy lines represent the two valleys in the municipality: [[Lyngdalen]] and [[Audnedalen]]. The arms were designed by Richard Haugland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kommunevåpenets bakgrunn og symbolikk |url=https://www.lyngdal.kommune.no/no/om-kommunen/kommunevapenets-bakgrunn-og-symbolikk/ |access-date=2020-12-05 |website=Lyngdal kommune |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
[[File:Austad Kirke Lyngdal.jpg|275px|thumb|[[Austad Church (Lyngdal)|Austad Church]]]]
The [[Church of Norway]] has five parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Lyngdal. It is part of the [[Lister og Mandal prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Agder og Telemark]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Lyngdal'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="2"|Austad||[[Austad Church (Lyngdal)|Austad Church]]||[[Austad, Lyngdal|Austad]]||1803
|-
|[[Korshamn Chapel]]||[[Korshamn]]||1906
|-
|rowspan="1"|Grindheim||[[Grindheim Church (Agder)|Grindheim Church]]||[[Byremo]]||1783
|-
|rowspan="1"|Konsmo||[[Konsmo Church]]||[[Konsmo]]||1802
|-
|rowspan="1"|Kvås||[[Kvås Church]]||[[Kvås]]||1836
|-
|rowspan="1"|Lyngdal||[[Lyngdal Church (Vest-Agder)|Lyngdal Church]]||[[Lyngdal (town)|Lyngdal]]||1848
|}